Ari Fleischer
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Ari Fleischer
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 Ari Fleischer conducting a White House press conference |
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| In office January 20, 2001 – July 15, 2003 |
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| Preceded by | Jake Siewert |
| Succeeded by | Scott McClellan |
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| Born | October 13, 1960 Pound Ridge, New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Rebecca Davis |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence | Washington, D.C. |
| Religion | Judaism |
Lawrence Ari Fleischer (born October 13, 1960) was the press secretary for U.S. President George W. Bush from January, 2001 to July, 2003. Fleischer was born in Pound Ridge, New York. He graduated from Fox Lane High School in Bedford, New York in 1978, and graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont in 1982. Today, he works as a media consultant for the NFL [1]
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[edit] Congressional Staffer
Upon his college graduation, Fleischer worked as press Secretary for Jon Fossel, a Republican candidate for a New York congressional seat. Later Fleischer worked as press secretary for Congressmen Norman Lent. From 1985 to 1988 he was the field-director for the National Republican Congressional Committee. He went back to being a press secretary in 1988, working for Congressman Joseph DioGuardi for a short time.
Fleischer served as Senator Pete Domenici's press secretary from 1989 to 1994. He then served as spokesman for the House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee for five years. He worked as deputy communications director for George H. W. Bush's 1992 reelection campaign.
[edit] White House Press Secretary
Although Fleischer served as communications director for Elizabeth Dole during her presidential run in the 2000 election campaign, he joined George W. Bush's presidential campaign after Mrs. Dole dropped out of the race. When Mr. Bush became the President in 2001, he tapped Fleischer to become his press secretary.
Fleischer first introduced a new phrase, "homicide bombing", to describe what has also been called suicide bombing, in April 2002, to emphasize the terrorist connotations of the tactic:
| “ | The president…convened a meeting of the National Security Council, at which point, in the middle of the meeting, the president was informed about this morning's homicide bombing in Jerusalem.…The Saudi telethon, as they have told it to us, is to provide assistance to the Palestinian people, and that isn't — no money is going to go to provide the homicide bombers with any assistance from the Saudi government.
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On May 19, 2003, he announced that he would resign during the summer, citing a desire to spend more time with his wife and to work in the private sector. He was replaced by deputy press secretary Scott McClellan on July 15, <a href="/wiki/200